


The Skeld Incident

by jbleep



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, Alien Impostor(s) (Among Us), Character Development, Deductions, Drama, Friendship/Love, Gen, Human Impostor(s) (Among Us), Impostor Black (Among Us), Impostor Red (Among Us), M/M, Mystery, POV Alternating, POV First Person, Plot, Power Dynamics, Pre-Canon, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Stabbing, fluff?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:34:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29699232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jbleep/pseuds/jbleep
Summary: On his very first Skeld mission, Cyan is tossed into the ship where the Second Imposter Incident will take place. Working with his teammates, he will gather clues to find out who it is. Meanwhile on the other side of the battle field, Black is having some troubles with his 'tasks'.Climb aboard the Skeld, where the crew learns about impostors and how they attack/sabotage, the impostors learn how to deceive, strike, and how the ship works, leading to elements of the game we know and love. Dark-ish story with some fluff.
Relationships: Crewmate/Impostor (Among Us)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 11





	1. Sabotage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On his very first Skeld mission, Cyan is tossed into the ship where the Second Imposter Incident will take place.

“Oh my..” I stood there fumbling my helmet on and taking in the view.

In front of me, out to a distance, was the giant spaceship parked in the center, decorated with metals and lights. The  _ Skeld _ . I’ve seen hundreds of the ship’s pictures back when I was in school studying its layout and mechanisms, but none of the pictures can beat the view in person, not even from a distance behind all these cargo-movers and engine-checkers. They were working hard to prepare for the Skeld trip to Polus and back. The trip I will be taking a part of. 

It was a miracle how I got on the crew, really.

A week ago, communications came from the research outpost on Polus. They were ransacked by a shape-shifting alien that sabotaged the facility and murdered half of the crew. According to the story, the alien mimicked the behavior of a crewmate, so well that the crewmembers couldn’t catch the alien until it was caught red-handed. Then, the  _ impostor _ was promptly ejected into the lava.

Now with all the damages, Polus outpost is asking for shipments of supplies and crew to keep the facility up and running. When the previous Cyan was assigned to the Skeld trip, she promptly quit the job. 

The news was all over it, “Cyan resigns over Polus ransacking”, “Skeld trip highly dangerous?” were the headlines. 

But the trip would be  _ fine _ , MIRA said. It has never happened before, only a one-time thing. The impostors tried to infiltrate, but they  _ lost _ , and there’s no way they’ll come back again once they have had a taste of how  _ competent _ MIRA’s crew is. Plus the job would pay generously and be  _ wonderful _ on my resume.

And that’s how I, fresh out of training, became Cyan of Skeld. 

My first step into the world.

Then, the speakers hanging off of the glass dome ceiling started buzzing. 

“All crew members prepare to board, I repeat, all crewmembers prepare to board.”

And so I headed for the boarding entrance.

* * *

Some other crew members were already there. One of them had a purple suit on, so it must be Purple. Sometimes our suit’s colour-coding is pretty neat, not needing to ask names and all. 

I waved to Purple and gave them the friendliest smile I could muster. 

They ignored me, continuing to lean against the wall. Or maybe they had their eyes closed and didn’t see me. You can’t tell the difference once the helmet is on.

I made my way to them, thinking of something to initiate a conversation. Their name? That’s just stupid. Where they are from? We’re not allowed to ask that. The weather? Favourite colour?

“Hi I’m Cyan. I was wondering, if you are a boy or a g- '' I stopped midway out of embarrassment. 

They looked at me, but didn’t say anything. Maybe I was a little rude. Fair enough. Time for plan B.

“Haha…. Sorry about that,” I said scratching my rubber helmet, “But the weather’s pretty nice eh? Big... _ bright _ sun.” They raised their hand.

They spoke, with a voice much like a girl’s.

“Just stop.” She said in a tired voice, “You’re giving me a headache.” 

I opened my mouth, but then decided against it.

* * *

The takeoff is a pretty scary thing. 

The ascending thrust will place a huge amount of gravitational force upon the passenger’s body throughout the duration of the ride until we’ve escaped from the planet’s orbit. From what I’ve heard by word-of-mouth, it’ll probably be like a full-body muscle cramp, but add in the liquids and ringing ears. Everyone here had better be in amazing shape.

“W-what if someone passes out?” I asked Black, who sat buckled in beside me. 

What if I don’t make it? 

“If you pass out, I’ll tickle you until you wake up laughing.” He said 

“How are you going to tickle me when I got my suit on?” I giggled. Black’s funny, even if I don’t think it’ll actually work. Still, it helped to calm me down. 

“I’ll find a way. Don’t worry.”

And so I didn’t worry. I fastened my seat belt, held tight to the bars, and waited for the countdown to be over. 

He’s a pretty nice guy, Black. Shame I didn’t talk to him earlier before we got on. He was in a conversation with Red, some kind of pep talk? I think they are friends. It’s more intimidating to approach two people than to approach only one. I’m not that brave. But technically I already had a convo with him so maybe we can all be friends after? It might work. I sure hope so.

And then I felt the crushing impact. I would’ve totally screamed if I was able to.

I looked out the window and watched as the clouds faded in and out of view, and the clear blue sky gradually was replaced with twinkling stars in deep-black space.

My home sure looks small from this far out.

* * *

I didn’t end up finding the chance to chit-chat to Black right after the launch. 

Right before the ship had even completely stabilized, the lights suddenly started to flicker, and seconds later they completely shut off. This wasn’t in the job memo? The loud engines were still buzzing and thundering from the launch, which buried what seemed to be shouts during the confusion. I called out for Black, and tried to blindly search for him with my arms, but it was empty. 

Not knowing what to do, I sat in the dark waiting for the ship to finish launching, stabilize, and for the engines to quiet down.

And soon enough, it did.

I unbuckled myself and moved around. It felt so good to be alive again.

“Hello? Anyone here?” I asked the abyss. Nothing. I tried again.“Hi?” Still nothing. That’s strange, did everyone leave?

Sighing in the dark, I raised my hands and put my palms in front of me. I guess these are my eyes now. Like that, little by little I felt around the seats, the walls, the corners, trying to find the door out. When the lights came back up, I found myself in an engine room. So that was where the noise was coming from! 

The engine was a giant piece of machinery made of many different parts. A bit of coppery flaps here, a bit of aluminum tubes there. It vibrated and whistled rhythmically, which felt kind of comforting to touch, somewhat like a cat’s purr. It had many holes and tubes of different sizes, although I’m not sure what they are supposed to do. Curiously, I snuck a finger down one of them. It fit snugly, almost a little tight.

“Hey!” Down the hall, a voice yelled at me. I turned to look. It was White. 

“What are you d-,” He ran to me, “Keep your hands off that thing!” 

I tried to explain to him how I got here while struggling to loosen my finger. It did loosen after much twisting, for the record, but I don’t think it was such a good idea to begin with anymore.

* * *

White read my file which was clipped to his clipboard.

“This is your first mission?” He asked, looking up. 

“Yessir!” I smiled, “What do I need to know?”

“For starters, keep your hands off machinery you're not familiar with ,” White flipped a page, and I tried to look embarrassed, “But you seem pretty excited. Good.”

I continued to watch him.

“First things first, we need to get you familiar with the place. Do you know where we are right now?”

“Upper engines sir.” He seemed pleased.

“Correct. Your job and where it is?”

“Sir I am responsible for the oxygen filtration and replenishing system. It’s at the front of the ship between weapons and navigation.” 

“You seem to know your stuff,” He placed a checkmark somewhere, “Alright, next we need to show you your dormitory. You’ll be sleepinging in the male dorm,” He looked surprised for just a second, “It’s the one with a triangle icon on the door. Do not go into any dormitory that isn’t your own.” He looked at me.

“Y-yes sir.”

He put down his clipboard. 

“Anyways, you’ll be sharing the dorm with four other crew members. I’ll be in that dorm too. I can show you around if you’d like?”

He stopped because Lime came running into the engine room hurriedly. 

“What’s the problem?” White asked, “Oh yea, Cyan, this is Lime, our electrician. Lime, Cyan.”

“Oh hey! White, um, Cyan, good to see you,” Lime smiled and waved, somehow he managed to do this nervously, “Do you know where the Captain is? I need to tell her something. It’s urgent.”

“You can just tell me, I’m the CA,” White replied. What in the world is a CA?

“Um, ok.” Lime stopped and took a breath.

“The lights. It was definitely not an accident,” Lime looked at him dead serious in the eyes, “And I have proof, I know what caused it.” White fell silent. 

“What are you suggesting?”

* * *

Absentmindedly I realised that Lime didn’t call White ‘sir’, or anything like that. Not even once. The pain of being new.

I just wish White had corrected me.

* * *

“Are, are you sure it wasn’t an accident?” I asked Lime, struggling to keep up with him and White as we paced through the hallway, heading directly towards admin.

“One hundred percent sure, I tell you,” He nodded grimly, “I’ve been repairing these ships for years now, I think I should know whether or not a black-out was caused by faulty wires or intentional sabotage.”

He nearly bumped into Green as she exited admin. Looking at her I realised there can be a much easier method to tell a crew’s gender other than judging by voice.

“Did I just hear sabotage?” Her voice sounded sturdy, like it had been used often. 

Lime jumped a little out of his skin. “Oh uh, yea, um, hi captain, we were just, yknow, chatting about..”

“Lime here thinks the black-out earlier was an intentional sabotage.” White supplemented. Lime nodded in agreement. “He claims to have proof.”

“Proof? Would you care to show me?”

He took something out of his pockets and held it up in his palms for her to see. She seemed to recognize it upon inspection. 

“I see, thanks for letting me know.” The Captain said grimly. 

All three pairs of eyes were on her.

A meeting was called. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feed back welcome on all chapters! I need to improve my writing.
> 
> Edit: Made the chapter a bit longer, added some details - March 5th 2021  
> Edit: Changed some present verbs to past tense - March 12 2021


	2. First Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile on the other side of the battle field, Black is having some troubles with his 'tasks'.

A meeting was called. 

I think it was because Red had sabotaged the lights. I was supposed to kill in the dark.

“Why did you hold back?” Red had whispered to me angrily. 

“I- my-” I don’t know. 

I’ve never been the most competent one of my kind. Faulty, shoddy, a dead loss. The others in my gather knew this, which is why they never sent me on any hunting missions. 

But when they heard of the one on Polus’s demise, and when the domain asked my gather to send out a mission as well, everyone had just been angry with Red. And because of that they unanimously picked him. After that, it was hard to choose a partner for him, since no one wanted to go with him, fearing they would be dragged down by his inabilities.

Then, one of them had a sneaky idea and suggested me as tribute. Of course, my mother disagreed, but the others agreed I didn’t contribute much anyways. 

That’s how I got on this coffin ship.

To be honest I think I’ll be the one to drag Red down.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Red had said to me before we boarded, “Oh no! It’s me and the two-leg! Whatever shall we do?” He had set his hands on my shoulders, “I  _ assure _ you, as long as you do what I say, follow along, I will make sure both of us come out of this alive. I can figure it out.”

He did have a plan, “a free kill” as he called it, but I didn’t keep up my end. 

I sat silently at the cafeteria table until the meeting began. Other people were chatting, like Orange, Yellow, and Red. They were more sociable. It’s not like I was the only one who didn’t talk, neither did Purple nor Blue. The meeting began when Green arrived at the table, followed by White, Lime, and trotting behind them, Cyan. 

“Good afternoon team,” Green announces with a smile, looking around, “I’m glad everyone is with us.”

“I imagine many of you are wondering what exactly caused the power failure earlier, I hope no one was too startled by it. However, upon future inspection, our wonderful electrician here has found the cause,” She turned to look at Lime.

“Um, yes, I… here,” He raised his hands for all to see. In one hand he held a melted circuit board, and on the circuit board was a tiny device with a little white LED light. He plucked it out from the board, causing the light to fade off as well as sending a few sparks that bounced off the floor and vanished into thin air.

“The circuit board can be replaced, but I’ve never seen a device like this before. It sure as hell looks intentional.” He elaborated.

“Precisely, which brings us to some unfortunate conclusions,” Green continued, “I assume everyone knows the reason behind our trip to Polus?”

Everyone nodded, so I decided to nod along.

“From the First Incident, information was given about a tiny device that was used multiple times to sabotage the outpost. It was described with an almost unnoticeable flicker of light that when detonated, is able to damage whatever circuit it had lashed on to. It was one of the tactics the  _ impostor  _ had used to sabotage a vital component of the station to cause an emergency, which as the Polus survivors described, seems to be able to be activated nearly untraceably,” She paused, “Unfortunately, its existence on this ship, as the cause of the black-out, highly suggests that we have a rather grim situation at hand.”

I went cold as I remembered what happened to the Polus mission. Death by lava.

“There may be impostors among us.” 

My gulp was a little bit audible. Hopefully no one noticed that.

“I thought they were called mimickers?” Asked a voice from the other side of the table.

“Oh my gawd. Yellow,  _ no  _ one calls them mimickers.” Orange covered her face from second-hand embarrassment. 

“What in the fuck is a mimicker?” 

“Language! Purple, we’re at the table!” Came a whisper. 

“I mean it’s what it did is it not?” Red chimed in, “Mimic the crew, blend in, place a few sabotages here and there, and when the time is ripe…” He made a jagged motion with his hands that scared Cyan half to death. He seemed to start enjoying it a little too much, in my opinion. And apparently Purple thought so too.

“Kinda interesting how you told it, init?” She cut in dryly, “If there had been a body dead I’d ask you where you’ve been during-”

“Alright alright, this is just speculation at the moment,” said Green, breaking up the oncoming discourse, “Probable speculation, but still speculation. This tiny little light here is just a warning of what may have happened, for us to start taking necessary precautions, not to start pointing fingers or accusing each other. Telling horror stories does not help either.”

I looked at Red. He shrugged back.

“Although we do not have much information on what was likely a sabotage, we do have one notable advantage - teamwork, which is greatly heightened by our strength in numbers. Travel in groups, check up on eachother, take note of who was with who and where they’ve last been seen. Keep in mind that we must not accuse out of sheer panic. When in doubt, feel free to come talk to me, or my wonderful assistant, White.” She gestured to him, he gave a wave to us. 

“Our battlefield is different this time, the  _ Skeld _ is much smaller than the station - be sure to bump into each other often. On top of that, we are armed with accounts and knowledge from the previous incident that wasn’t available then. With the help of every crewmember on board, we will make sure that the Skeld Incident will not end in tragedy, is that understood?”

“Yes ma’am!” They shouted in unison. 

* * *

Everyone else was checking their issued tablet and heading off. Even Red had formed a small group of three with Yellow and Orange and left the cafeteria together. “Follow along”, I remember him telling me. I checked my tablet, and on it was a list of tasks. 

I’m supposed to check on the engines, as well as refuel. 

I had no idea what that meant, other than the tablet displaying the tasks’ location. The first spot was the upper engines.

I headed over there, but someone had arrived before me. Standing over the machinery curiously was Cyan, the one who I had heard saying my name when Red sabotaged the lights. Was he on to me already? I haven’t even done anything! 

He noticed me much later than it took for me to see him.

“Black?” He turned around, “Oh hi, are you responsible for the engines?” 

I nodded, and he seemed relieved, “Oh good, I just wanted to let you know that, er, I may have touched one of the tubes earlier. I think it was this one over here, the one with the hole in it.” He pointed at one of them. “Can you check it, please? To see if I broke anything. It’d be terrible if I accidentally triggered an emergency and scared everyone.”

The tube was rather short, a little wider than the size of a finger, with little bits of rust forming down the sides. Looking down from the tube’s mouth you can tell there’s a definite bottom to it, a half-screwed screw.

“Looks fine to me.” Help.

“Phew, and I thought I might have unscrewed it a bit when I was struggling free.” 

“Nope, not even a little. Thanks for your concern though.” Cyan relaxed.

“Anyways, you got any tasks here?” He asked, “Refueling engines or something? I found the gas, it’s right here,” He held up a red box with a handle and a long, bent nose, “We should stick together, remember what the captain said? I wouldn’t want you to get snacked on by an impostor, either,” He laughed nervously, “What do you say?”

“That’d be wonderful.” I let out forcibly. He handed me the red box with swirling liquids inside of it, and gestured to a metal funnel to the side of the engine. 

“I think you’re supposed to pour it in that thing,” Cyan asked, “Is that right?”

“Good eye,” I held up the red tank with ease, it’s not very heavy, and yet my arms couldn’t stop shaking.    
He’s watching me, no doubt full of suspicion. There must be a lava pool kept somewhere on this ship, constantly bubbling and toiling in case of impostors. I just didn’t want to go so soon. 

“I accidentally bumped myself. On the wall, during the black-out.” I tried to explain, and came up with a tale, “I bumped myself really hard.” 

He sighed, and moved in to grasp the handle with me, covering his hands on top of mine, as well as stabilizing my arms. It was then when I realised that humans emit body heat. 

“Here we go,” he guided the tank and dunked the nose in, titled the box and gradually made it magically lighter. “I think this is how you’re supposed to do it. Tell me if I’m doing it wrong, alright?”

I stayed silent until the tank grew empty.

“Nice,” He said, putting down the empty tank and wiping some of the oil off his gloves with a nearby towel. “Do you have any other tasks left? I have some in O2.”

“I’m done.”

“Wanna watch me clean out some of the filters?” 

I stayed with him until he finished all of them. 

* * *

It was in the middle of the night after everyone had lapsed into dreams when Red gestured for me to sneak out of the bunk and out the dormitories. I followed him as we walked down the hallway, not knowing where we were heading to. 

“ _ Why _ , are you such a dumbass,” Red was still exacerbated over the loss opportunity during the power outage. 

“I mean I knew you were sent out because of some hunting-phobia, but I didn’t know it was  _ that bad _ .” He continued, “You shouldn’t have been scared! No one could’ve seen you, heck  _ I _ couldn’t even see a thing, completely dark and the engines were deafening.  _ Anyone  _ there could’ve done it, you could’ve taken anyone and nobody could’ve traced it back to you.”

Yet when the moment was ripe, when I had morphed and was picking which one of the crewmate’s lives to end, something in me faltered and wiggled like jelly. Soon enough they had gotten up from their seats and rushed to fix the sabotage, the moment slipping away. 

“Where are we going?” I asked Red. I saw the smirk he gave me through his visor. 

“Electrical.” We were practically already there. 

“What for?”

“Remember when Lime said he was gonna check electrical for other sabotage chips during lunch today? Well, he still hasn't come back yet. What a hard-worker, his bunk is still empty.” He gestured for me to step in, “Better not mess up again.”

The door shut behind me. 

“Red?” Lime’s voice back from the back of the electrical, he picked something off the floor, “That’s you right? And someone else? Who are you talking to?”

Red nudged at me. I didn’t move. 

He gave me a disappointed look and drew out a knife, the ones from the kitchen. 

“Nop, just me, wanted to check on you to see how you’re doing,” Red slowly approached the back of electrical, hiding the knife in his left hand behind his back, “The lights are pretty dim in here, Lime, what are you workin-”

Before Red could make it around and find Lime, Lime charged out to the side with a war cry, out from behind the back of the panel. Grasped firmly in his hands was a metal screwdriver, pointed straight at Red. 

Red flinched back just in time to avoid being impaled, but the screwdriver’s metal tip still tore open his suit’s sleeve, revealing flesh and a bit of blood. 

Lime wasn’t able to brake himself before slamming into the wall, then looked back at the red dripping off Red’s arm, shocked. He dropped the screwdriver immediately. 

“Oh. Oh my  _ god _ . I’m so sorry, I- I thought you were one of those alien mimickers. I thought you were going to kill me, haha. My god. I am  _ so  _ sorry.” Lime looked somewhat relieved, got up and tended to Red’s arm, “Quickly, come. I think I may have something to bandage it up with.”

Before Lime could help, Red had thrusted the knife into Lime’s gut. Lime froze, not sure if due to shock of the betrayal or due to the physical pain. 

“Nobody calls us mimickers. Who taught you that?” He said before slamming Lime back into the metal lockers and sliding the knife back out, red blood pooling out and staining Lime’s suit from where it left. 

“W-why, bu-t,” Lime coughed out. He put pressure over his stomach, on top of the wound, and tried to stop the bleeding, “You’re one of us! Why are you..” The red-stained hands over his stomach curled up into fists. 

As if hit by a sudden realisation, Lime let out an unsettling laugh, and looked down at his wound, taking in his situation. Then, completely disregarding it, he wound up his right arm, and prepared to take a step forward. Red took a step back, but it didn’t matter.

“HOW DARE YOU!” Lime shouted. He swung his fist in the curvature of a half-moon, and punched a right hook directly on Red’s face, knocking Red back a few steps before he regained his balance. 

Red’s hand went up to feel for his face while Lime twitched and cradled himself, leaning heavily on the bent metal lockers behind him. “Why are you doing this? Why in the name of MIRA…” Red didn’t answer. He turned around to look at me, with cracks showing through his visor. 

“Can you smell it?” He asked me. 

To Lime’s confusion, he tossed the bloodied knife towards my corner of the dimly-lit room, skiddling against the floor until it stopped beside me. Brought alongside with it was the metallic aroma of blood, which wrapped around me and tickled a growing demand inside my stomach. 

“I bet it smells nice, doesn’t it.” Red spoke again. 

It smelled fantastic.

I felt myself morphing and growing to the smell, a certain feverish frenzy being pumped into my veins. Slowly I approached him, and slowly the smell grew. I wanted  _ more _ , forgetting all about the look of horror on Lime’s face, all I thought about was how much better it would make me feel. I ignored how small and helpless he looked when I loomed over him. It has been so long since my last meal. How hypocritical of me to not hunt and expect to eat. 

Apparently the walls of electrical are pretty sound-proof. 

To be honest I don’t remember much of exactly  _ how _ I did it. The experience was too hazy to recount exactly. I only remember how satisfying it was when I was eating, and how devastating it felt after when I had the moment to take in what I had just done. Lime may have screamed, he may have struggled, but it  _ must _ have been painful. I put him through that.

When the haze had lifted, I looked to the other half of his body and cried to myself while sitting on the floor. 

Red, who had been sitting to the side and watching, came over to me. “Shhh, it’s alright, you did what you had to. It’s not your fault, it’s over now.” Oh it was absolutely my fault. I knew it would be my fault, but I still did it, did I not? Red hugged my shoulders and cradled the side of my forehead underneath his chin. “Look, it wasn’t just you, we both did it. No point feeling bad about it now. But now you’ve proven yourself, you can hunt! Shouldn’t that be great?” 

“It should, yea.” I replied. It should be, but I’m not sure if it felt great. Lime wasn’t exactly feeling great about it either. 

Red had to clean himself up before we retreated back to our dorms. Everyone was still fast asleep in their bunk, except for Lime. His was empty. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> annnnnnd that's the end for the intro I believe. We've got a setting, a problem, introduced most of the characters, included some personality, and most importantly introduced the characters' motives (i think). this was pretty fun to write, and I can only hope that it was fun to read.


	3. Medscan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tasks, meeting, and a bit of fluff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I usually play with visual tasks off, so that's what we're going with

With a flick of a switch, the lights in the dorms turned on. I blinked myself into awakeness, looking at my cyan gloves, remembering who I am and where I was. 

The bunk beside me creaked as someone climbed down its ladder. 

“Good morning Red,” was a voice down from one of the bottom bunks. “Hey, since when did you get your arm scraped that badly?”

I turned and rested my head along the metal frame of my bunk, sleepily watching them from above. White was still halfway through folding his blankets when Red jumped off the last few steps of the ladder, landing on bent knees and then rising up. He had a curious crack on his visor. On the right sleeve of his suit was a tear, a piece of the material gone, exposing a half-healed scrape. 

“Oh that,” He rubbed his arm, “I fell off the top bunk in the middle of the night. Must have scraped myself somewhere then. It was pretty loud, did you not hear it?”

“No. I didn’t. ” White squinted at him. “You top bunks have metal guards specifically to prevent falling. Also, Red, is that a nose bleed?” 

Red’s hand went up to cover said nosebleed. “I guess I’m a feisty sleeper.” He looked at the empty bunk, the one near the entrance. I’m pretty sure that bunk was prepared for Lime. Was he still not back yet? Or did he leave early?

White followed Red’s gaze, hesitating before saying “You should get that checked out with Purple. The medic? Just in case of a concussion or something,” He noticed me watching them, “Good morning Cyan.”

“Haha, good morning.”

“I believe Cyan has a medscan scheduled in the morning,” White continued, “You guys should go together.”

Black suddenly spoke. I didn’t realise he was awake, but then again, he’s at the bunk below me. I can’t see him from up here.

“I should come too,” He said, “Just in case.”

“Well, three’s safer than two wiith an impostor aboard.” I contributed to the conversation.

“Also, Red, there’s spare suits in the closet.”

* * *

“Black, you don’t have tasks here.” Purple urged, “Please go finish your tasks, we don’t need people clustering in medbay.”

“B-but,” Black looked between me and Red.

“If you’re worried about them, there’s three of us here,” Purple pushed him out, “If either of us were an impostor they’re still out-numbered by crewmates.”

Giving one final look, he left. 

“Anyways,” Purple dusted her hands, “Cyan. Right, scheduled medscan checkup. Red, what’s up with you again?”

“I fell off the top bunk, White suggested to check for concussions.”

“How do you feel right now? Headache, nausea, fatigue? Any ringing in the ears?”

“Um, I feel tired.” He yawned. Really? We got nine hours of sleep yesterday! Maybe he does have a concussion. 

“...” Purple sized him up for a moment, reminding me of how White hesitated this morning. “We’ll get you a medscan just in case. Yknow, check for...fractures and stuff.” She pressed a series of buttons on her tablet. “Would you like to get on the scanner?” She gestured. I didn’t know Purple could be so polite.

Red stepped on the platform. 

“What’s supposed to happen?” Red asked, “I don’t think they have these in where I’m from.”

“Wait for it.”

Staring at absolutely nothing, Red’s eyes widened with surprise. He raised his arms and lifted his leg up and down. He looked around and below him, his gaze following empty space and slowly moving upwards. It’s like he’s looking at invisible butterflies. 

“What’s happening?” I whispered to Purple. I always thought there was something up with Red.

“It’s a new, less-invasive medscan. Only the person doing the scan can see the scanning process. Something to do with human brains interpreting the waves as light during the scan. I’m not too up-to-date with it,” She explained, “One concern we had was how technically the scan can be faked, however, there is a way to tell when there are two people who are able to scan. The scanner can only operate on one person at a time. Try stepping on to the scanner.”

I tried. The moment my foot came into contact with the object, a jolt of energy climbed up from my leg and into my head. _Waiting for Red…._ It told me. 

“It says I need to wait for Red.” 

Red lifted his head to look at me. He picked up one of this legs.“Oh, should I step of-

“Wait _no_!” Purple yelped. 

-f then?” Too late. He stepped off, and at the same time, I stepped on. 

Purple facepalmed. “Oh, you fucking idiot you need to finish your scan. You just wasted our time. Go again after Cyan finishes.” That sounded more like Purple I know. I guess she’s back.

The platform below me turned on, giving off a lambent emerald glow. A flat, circular net of green rays raised up from the scanner, tingling the bottoms of my feet and slowly moving upwards.

“Yep, can confirm, he’s not faking it.” Red said.

I watched and listened to the beeping sounds as the rays travelled up, all the way until it hit the tip of my helmet. Then surprisingly it warped around my body with a beep, making me flash emerald green. _ID: CYANP0..._ the scanner sang out a list of information about me. Finally, the flat net of rays reappeared above my head, and gradually moved downwards and into the scanner. It turned off with a finishing beep.

“Woah,” Slightly dazed, I stepped off the scanner as Red stepped on.

As he was scanning, Purple went over my updated records with me. “Nothing out of the ordinary,” She informed me, “Everything is good. Remember to stay hydrated.” 

However, she did find injuries in Red’s updated records. 

“Do you guys have screws lying around on the floors? I can’t imagine how you got that narrow scrape from falling off the bunk.” We huddled around her as she pointed at a black and white inverted image of Red’s arm on her tablet. 

“Maybe I scraped off one of them as I was falling.” A shrug. 

* * *

The scans were over quicker than I thought it would be. Not that I had much of a prediction to begin with. After putting some samples in place for a machine to analyze, Purple decided to come with me and Red while we did our tasks in O2 and weapons. 

However, while we were walking down storage, a faint scream echoed down the hallway. With a flinch, Purple ran towards the source, making a sharp turn right in front of the open electrical doors and heading in. Red and I gave each other a look and hurried to follow along.

Inside the dark walls of electrical, someone was crying their hearts out in between screams. Just barely you can hear the voice of Orange comforting them. Before I could reach behind the back of the panel to see who it was, Purple came out and blocked my way. 

“I don’t think you should see this.” 

“Why not?” What happened? Who’s crying?

My question was answered as Orange practically carried Yellow out of electrical. Yellow’s face was muffled into Orange’s shoulder, yet her sobs were still audible. I could even make out a string of words. “...his…. she’ll….never know….”. 

“What happened?”

* * *

Cafeteria. 

MIRA lied.

“Where was the body?” 

The table’s attention was on Yellow, who had her arms folded on the table as a cushion for her to sniff into. She didn’t reply. It was Orange who replied for her. 

“Electrical.” She said while patting Yellow’s back, “Yellow and I finished our tasks early, so we decided to go find Lime - haven’t seen him in a while. That’s where we found him.”

This can’t be happening. 

I stared at the blue paint-coated table, at the perfect ceramic tiles below my feet. At my hands, checking every detailed crevice on my glove to make sure my brain isn’t making this up. What happened to the background checks? How did they even get on board? Polus was a one-time incident. They lost, why again?

“When was Lime last seen?” Green asked the table, “We need to find the killer. Any information would help.” The killer… a murderer here sitting with us.

Yellow looked up from her arms. “I, I last saw Lime at the end of the day, yesterday. He waved goodbye, then headed to his dorms.” Her eyes narrowed. “You guys, from the male dorms. What did you see?”

“Lime left before he even started to unpack.” White replied for us, “He said he was busy, still had some stuff to tweak around with.” The rest of us nodded. I didn’t think much about it when he left: he seemed capable of making his own choices. But in hindsight I realised I should’ve stopped him before he stepped out of that door. 

“You guys didn’t see him back in the dorms this morning?” Green asked. 

“...No.” I really should have.

“This sounds like one of the boys, doesn’t it,” Purple crossed her arms, “It sounds like he was murdered in cold blood in electrical during the night, and none of the girls would’ve known Lime had headed out.”

One of the boys? The ones I slept in a room with last night? A murderous, alien impostor! ...which one of them is it?

“I’d say this is Red.” Red glared back at Yellow, “This guy is so suspicious. Yesterday, he was following me and Orange around in the hallways and the reactor while we did our tasks, but I don’t remember seeing him doing his.”

“Mine are in weapons! It’s all the way on the other end of the ship!”

Red? I have to agree, that does make Red seem pretty suspicious.

Upon hearing Yellow’s accusation, White turned to look at Purple. “How was the medscan? Did he scan?” Purple realised something.

“It can’t be Red!” Purple informed the table, “He may be suspicious as fuck, but he is one of us. By medscan. He came in this morning and had his scan confirmed by Cyan, one after the other.”

“Cyan you can confirm?” The attention was turned to me.

“Yes! I can confirm, he definitely scanned.” 

“Likewise, Cyan also scanned.” said Red.

So it’s not Red, there’s proof of that. The suspects here would be Black or White. It’s not Black. Is it White then?

“What if it’s both Red _and_ Cyan?” Yellow brought a new idea to the table, “We keep talking about _the_ impostor, _the_ murderer, but what if there’s _two_ of them? The _impostors_?”

Two. _Two_ of them. The thought of that numbed my limbs and locked my throat, unable to defend myself. It’s not me. I didn’t kill anyone. But she has a point. We don’t know how many killers there are sitting at this table right now. We’ve only been optimistic thinking there was only one, but what if there was two? Or three? 

Purple nudged Yellow in the gut. 

“Ok now Yellow, let’s not get carried away just yet,” She says, coming to my rescue, “Being able to scan proves that you’re human, not an impostor. In theory it clears you from the crime. Them both having a scan should not be incriminating.”

“Then who is it?” The million dollar question. 

White?

“I think it’s White.” I spoke up, “From my perspective, I know for sure that I didn’t commit the murder, and that Red definitely did scan. I’m also fairly certain that it’s not Black - we watched each other do tasks yesterday. Therefore, if it is one of the boys, then by elimination it has to be White,” I avoided looking at White so that I won’t see the look he might be giving me, “Right?”

Yellow slapped the table somewhat viciously, then turned to look at white. “Finally! Get this Lime-killer outta here! Throw him out into space or something! And if it’s not him then it’s got to be Black, simple!”

Green had to interrupt. “We’re not ejecting anyone into space right now. A single crewmate’s account is simply not enough. If we act too hastily, the death of an innocent crewmate may be on our hands.” The captain is the captain. Even though at the moment I was still fairly certain it was White, she is right. There’s no definite proof yet, I could be wrong.

“It doesn’t…. necessarily have to be one of the boys.” said Blue, who had been silent before, “Does anyone else remember Lime talking about tinkering in electrical during yesterday lunch? The impostor could’ve remembered that. Or even worse, they could’ve just been roaming outside during the night and got lucky.”

I do vaguely remember him saying something about electrical yesterday, now that I think about it. So it isn’t technically narrowed down to one of the boys after all. I’m not sure if that is relieving to know or not. 

“So… who is it?”

The table was silent. 

We don’t know anything for sure. All we have are a mix of hunches and suspicions swirling together, tangling into stories. 

The meeting officially ended with Black and White being the main suspects.

* * *

I can’t sleep. 

No matter how much I tumble around in my bed, no matter how I twist my sheets, no matter which position I try, I just can’t sleep. Maybe it’s because of the ship’s low humming as it travels through space, but just yesterday that humming had been a lullaby. Maybe it’s because of the faint snoring that could be heard if I focused on the noise. Maybe it’s because of the unpacked belongings tucked beneath the empty bunk.

Frustrated, I decided to give up sleeping and sat up instead, looking at the bunks below. 

I love the top bunk. It is a realm above the rest, much more secluded and private than the bottom bunks. Some may say there’s not enough room up there, but frankly I don’t take up much space.

We have three bunks in this room, each with two beds. Me and Black shares one, Red and White shares one, and the other one used to entirely belong to Lime. The one that was unusually bare.

It’s kind of weird how Lime’s bunk wasn’t the only one that was vacant. Even though I couldn’t directly see the bunk below me, I knew for a fact that he wasn't there. _Black’s not dead_ , I had to remind myself, _He’s just on guard duty, that’s all._

It’s something new that Green made us implement to prevent further night-killings. One guard for the male dorm, one guard for the female dorm, and a lock for the captain’s quarters. It’s a tough job - the guards need to stay up all night, but they do get to sleep in during the day. 

I wondered if Black is feeling sleepy, or bored, staying right outside the door all by himself. 

I decided to let my blankets wrap around my shoulder as I climbed down the bunk’s ladder. Its fabric draped over me as my toes went from bar to bar, and lastly solid ground. The dorm was dark at night, but I could navigate my way to the door. Quietly, I tuned its knob open and then pulled it to a close behind me.

Outside the dorms, the halls were dimly illuminated by soft night-lights that lined the walls. I turned to find the vague silhouette of Black, who sat on the floor against the wall.

“Hey-o,” I said, going towards him, “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought why not keep you some company while I’m awake? Can I sit here?”

“Sure.” 

I sat down next to him, draping the blanket over him as well so that it covered the both of us. “Here, I brought a blanket.” I smiled as he seemed to accept it. 

For the next few moments we sat there in silence. I wondered if I should initiate a conversation, but wasn’t too keen on breaking the moment. 

I do try to make friends, a lot. Get close to people, form a bond, something like the ones you’d see on TV or read in a book. But I have to say it doesn’t seem like I’m very good at it. Sometimes I come on too strong and annoy or scare them away. Sometimes I stay too quiet and miss the moment.

“Cyan?”

“Yea?”

“What if there was something you didn’t want to do, but you have to do it?”

Well that was out of the blue.

“What kind of thing is it?”

“It’s like..a group project. We each have jobs to carry through. But I don’t feel right carrying through my end. But if I don’t do anything, we won’t be able to complete the mission. And if we don’t complete the mission, then something terrible will happen.”

That sounded like something completely out of my realm of consolation.

“What do you think?” I tried.

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. It’ll be my fault either way.”

I felt the blanket shift as he hugged his knees.

It sounded like he has two choices: one that feels right but comes with a consequence for him and his teammates, and one that is hard but avoids whatever terrible fate he was talking about.

“Well, I certainly don’t want you in harm’s way,” I leaned against him, “But I can’t make the decision for you. You seem like a good person, I believe you can make the right choice.”

“You do?”

“Even _if_ you don’t, everyone messes up sometimes. If you mess up, I’ll be there for you. Like, right there, with you.” I yawned.

“..are you sure?”

“Promise.” His shoulder felt like a boulder. My mind drifted away.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next moment I remember was the ceiling lights in the dorm turning on. It was morning already. I woke up in my bunk, the edges of my blanket neatly tucked in around me.


End file.
